Vectispete
Active Member
Wonderful to see some footage of locos and rolling stock working. Smashing stuff.
Stephen Freeman
Western Thunderer
Not too keen on the Watneys Red Barrel sign, consigned to the history of time with any luck!
Gerry Beale
Western Thunderer
Ah - that is part of my collection of 'Beers that are best forgotten' ephemera!
Stephen Freeman
Western Thunderer
Absolutely!!
Compton castle
Western Thunderer
Nick Rogers
Western Thunderer
Lovely photograph, Steve. It is great to see some more photos of Maiden Newton. All very inspiring stuff, Gerry.
Is the locomotive in the photograph a Grange?
All the best,
Nick.
Edit: Typo.
Is the locomotive in the photograph a Grange?
All the best,
Nick.
Edit: Typo.
Gerry Beale
Western Thunderer
Thanks for the videos and the above photo Steve - I'm very pleased with the way it is all starting to come together. I am pleased that you enjoyed your visit.
Nick - the engine is a Grange and is a re-wheeled Hornby model with a few extra tweaks. In particular the chimney was changed because I wasn't happy with Hornby's effort. Its has been done as 6830 Buckenhill Grange which was a Bristol St Philips Marsh - SPM - engine and was regularly seen on the Weymouth line. I have a photo of her taken around this time a little further down the line at Upwey Junction.
Gerry
Nick - the engine is a Grange and is a re-wheeled Hornby model with a few extra tweaks. In particular the chimney was changed because I wasn't happy with Hornby's effort. Its has been done as 6830 Buckenhill Grange which was a Bristol St Philips Marsh - SPM - engine and was regularly seen on the Weymouth line. I have a photo of her taken around this time a little further down the line at Upwey Junction.
Gerry
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Nick Rogers
Western Thunderer
Thanks for the information, Gerry.
Out of interest, how was the conversion undertaken? Alan Gibson wheels and new coupling rods? Was it particularly challenging?
All the best,
Nick.
Out of interest, how was the conversion undertaken? Alan Gibson wheels and new coupling rods? Was it particularly challenging?
All the best,
Nick.
Vectispete
Active Member
Gerry
Your layout is starting to take shape very nicely.
May I ask a couple of questions:
1) What was the source of your horse boxes? I am in need of a couple for Culham.
2) Who did you acquire the ballast from and why grey as opposed to brown?
The 45xx runs very well by the way. She has lost her 'BR' logo and is awaiting 'GWR' and will run a local goods train through Culham.
Regards
Pete
Gerry Beale
Western Thunderer
Thanks Pete. Glad the 45xx is satisfactory. It was also my intention to remove the BR crest and replace with the GWR initials. I have a copy of the engine history card for 4507 and she had a 'Heavy General' at Swindon sometime during WW2 when, if repainted, she would have appeared in black. I have photo of her at Swindon in 1946 and she had the initials so was most likely in black and probably stayed that way until she was repainted by BR. When BR gave her a HG she was repainted in BR lined green and stayed that way until she was withdrawn in 1963.
The horse boxes are:
GWR Paco - upgraded Hornby, not repainted but re-lettered.
LNER Standard horsebox - built from the Parkside kit pretty much straight out of the packet.
LNER ex NER horsebox - built from a D&S kit again pretty much out of the box. I did that one quite a few years ago now and don't recall doing anything extra to the model.
The ballast is from a relatively local outfit called Attwood Aggregates. They sell a large range of materials suitable for several scales. I used granite ballast intended for N gauge which looks about right. I used granite because that's what the GWR used - it could all do with a bit of weathering which I will get around to when all the track is finished - still a bit more to lay yet and some fettling to be done to that already laid. I am not sure if Attwood Aggregates are still going but they used to regularly attend Railwells and other shows in the area.
I hope all this helps. Keep up the progress with your Culham project - do let us know how it is going please.
Gerry
The horse boxes are:
GWR Paco - upgraded Hornby, not repainted but re-lettered.
LNER Standard horsebox - built from the Parkside kit pretty much straight out of the packet.
LNER ex NER horsebox - built from a D&S kit again pretty much out of the box. I did that one quite a few years ago now and don't recall doing anything extra to the model.
The ballast is from a relatively local outfit called Attwood Aggregates. They sell a large range of materials suitable for several scales. I used granite ballast intended for N gauge which looks about right. I used granite because that's what the GWR used - it could all do with a bit of weathering which I will get around to when all the track is finished - still a bit more to lay yet and some fettling to be done to that already laid. I am not sure if Attwood Aggregates are still going but they used to regularly attend Railwells and other shows in the area.
I hope all this helps. Keep up the progress with your Culham project - do let us know how it is going please.
Gerry
Stephen Freeman
Western Thunderer
I read something about Attwood Aggregates on Scalefour Forum, problem with attending shows I think whilst the pandemic was still on, so that part of the business was put on hold until shows re-started. Don't know if they have restarted yet or not.
Jack P
Active Member
Hi Gerry, i'm finally catching up on reading the rest of this thread and it's fantastic. Do you have any further updates, or gratuitous photos of stock?
I'm honestly blown away with the quality, but the thing that really hits is the consistency, track, buildings, scenery, locomotives, rolling stock, weathering all of it is to the same exceptionally high standard! Looking forward to further updates.
I'm honestly blown away with the quality, but the thing that really hits is the consistency, track, buildings, scenery, locomotives, rolling stock, weathering all of it is to the same exceptionally high standard! Looking forward to further updates.
Gerry Beale
Western Thunderer
Hi Jack
Thanks for your kind comments. Sorry not to have responded sooner - to be honest I haven't been on here recently and I've only just caught up with your message. The consistency of modelling that you mention is something that I try to maintain at all times and I am pleased that you have picked up on this point - it does make for slow progress sometimes though!
There have been quite a few developments on the layout recently and I'll try to get a few more recent photos on here soon. In the meantime I attach a photo of a Bulldog that I completed recently. I have long desired a model of one of these for Maiden Newton and was very pleased to acquire this one from the estate of the late Tony Stoker of Halifax. Upon receipt I found that her green paint was a little worn and as I wanted her in post WW2 condition, I made a few detail alterations, renumbered her and repainted her black. She was weathered to represent No. 3335 which was the last of the curved frame Bulldogs to remain in traffic.
Thanks for your kind comments. Sorry not to have responded sooner - to be honest I haven't been on here recently and I've only just caught up with your message. The consistency of modelling that you mention is something that I try to maintain at all times and I am pleased that you have picked up on this point - it does make for slow progress sometimes though!
There have been quite a few developments on the layout recently and I'll try to get a few more recent photos on here soon. In the meantime I attach a photo of a Bulldog that I completed recently. I have long desired a model of one of these for Maiden Newton and was very pleased to acquire this one from the estate of the late Tony Stoker of Halifax. Upon receipt I found that her green paint was a little worn and as I wanted her in post WW2 condition, I made a few detail alterations, renumbered her and repainted her black. She was weathered to represent No. 3335 which was the last of the curved frame Bulldogs to remain in traffic.
Gerry Beale
Western Thunderer
Thanks Adam - very kind of you. She was, of course, built from a Martin Finney kit and is a very sweet runner. So I am delighted with her and she looks a treat running through Maiden Newton with a short train of GWR 'brown' vehicles forming a parcels train.
Gerry Beale
Western Thunderer
Well, again its been a while! After completing the Bulldog back last year I had hoped to spend some more time on the layout but things conspired against me. Firstly I received a new chassis for my Dapol based 63xx mogul so I felt that I should make the required alterations and upgrades to the loco and tender bodies and take the model through to completion. The chassis is built - not by me - from a Frank Davies kit which is now available from Brassmasters and is intend as a direct replacement for the chassis as supplied by Dapol. It has been designed to be built for tender drive but I decided to dispense with this complication and mine has been built with the motor fitted vertically in the firebox and driving on the rear axle. I am delighted to say that the engine is an absolutely superb runner in her new guise. She runs as smoothly and quietly as you would like and is easily capable of handling the longest goods train that I can run - 30 wagons. I upgraded a few of the fittings to improve her appearance and renumbered her as 7302 - a Westbury engine. On showing a photo or two of her when completed to a couple of friends I was taken to task and instructed to " see to that join in the b....y chimney". So I worked a smear of Squadron white putty into the joint, left it to set overnight and then cleaned it all up using fine emery paper thus disguising the join. Of course it looks better and I should have done it without having to be told but its good to have people around who can point out your errors from time to time!
However, as the mogul approached completion I received one of the excellent Accurascale Manors and was keen to see what could be done with it. I had heard that it was difficult to convert this model to EM gauge but having also heard that it had originally been the intention that Accurascale would provide the facility to convert the model I wanted to investigate. I am delighted to be able to report that it can indeed be converted to EM gauge and that it is a relatively straightforward process. I'm not going to say much here as there is a detailed article on the work required that will appear in an early MRJ but the project is most certainly doable. I have also enhanced the model a little - it is outstandingly good as it comes - but there were a few tweaks that I felt improved matters and these are also detailed in the article. She is 7801 Anthony Manor which was a Bristol Bath Road engine when new in 1938 and she was employed on goods and passenger trains from Bristol to Salisbury and Weymouth so is ideal for Maiden Newton. She has also proved to be an excellent runner so with this experience in mind I can only say that I'm really looking forward to seeing their forthcoming 57xx pannier tank and I already have one earmarked for service on the Bridport Branch.
As if this all wasn't enough I have also revisited my 8F class 2-8-0! This converted and upgraded Hornby model was done a few years ago now and was described at the time in a MRJ article. When I made my decision to back date Maiden Newton to post-war GWR she was in BR livery so I put her to one side to be dealt with later. What with one thing and another I forgot about her until recently. Since there was relatively little to be done I took her out and removed all the BR style insignia replacing it with the correct LMS style. She represents one of the 8Fs that were built at Swindon and ran on the GWR until they went to the LMS after the war had finished. I have represented the hybrid livery but otherwise little was done and once she has a decoder fitted she will join the rest of the engines.
It might also be noticed that some greenery has appeared on the layout. I have long wanted to do at least a section of scenic work to prove to myself that I could do it and also as a stimulus to move the layout on a bit more. The work was done over Christmas and as a preliminary I read Gordon Gravett's book through several times and also had some very helpful instruction form Neil Podbery. I'm rather pleased with-it and keen to do some more.
However, as the mogul approached completion I received one of the excellent Accurascale Manors and was keen to see what could be done with it. I had heard that it was difficult to convert this model to EM gauge but having also heard that it had originally been the intention that Accurascale would provide the facility to convert the model I wanted to investigate. I am delighted to be able to report that it can indeed be converted to EM gauge and that it is a relatively straightforward process. I'm not going to say much here as there is a detailed article on the work required that will appear in an early MRJ but the project is most certainly doable. I have also enhanced the model a little - it is outstandingly good as it comes - but there were a few tweaks that I felt improved matters and these are also detailed in the article. She is 7801 Anthony Manor which was a Bristol Bath Road engine when new in 1938 and she was employed on goods and passenger trains from Bristol to Salisbury and Weymouth so is ideal for Maiden Newton. She has also proved to be an excellent runner so with this experience in mind I can only say that I'm really looking forward to seeing their forthcoming 57xx pannier tank and I already have one earmarked for service on the Bridport Branch.
As if this all wasn't enough I have also revisited my 8F class 2-8-0! This converted and upgraded Hornby model was done a few years ago now and was described at the time in a MRJ article. When I made my decision to back date Maiden Newton to post-war GWR she was in BR livery so I put her to one side to be dealt with later. What with one thing and another I forgot about her until recently. Since there was relatively little to be done I took her out and removed all the BR style insignia replacing it with the correct LMS style. She represents one of the 8Fs that were built at Swindon and ran on the GWR until they went to the LMS after the war had finished. I have represented the hybrid livery but otherwise little was done and once she has a decoder fitted she will join the rest of the engines.
It might also be noticed that some greenery has appeared on the layout. I have long wanted to do at least a section of scenic work to prove to myself that I could do it and also as a stimulus to move the layout on a bit more. The work was done over Christmas and as a preliminary I read Gordon Gravett's book through several times and also had some very helpful instruction form Neil Podbery. I'm rather pleased with-it and keen to do some more.
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Captain Kernow
Western Thunderer
Having seen your lovely photo of the AS Manor in MRJ 301, Gerry, I was intrigued by the fact that you have successfully converted it to EM. I clearly recall one of the AS people saying very early on (on the AS Manor thread on RMWeb) that they were not designing it for conversion to EM or P4, on the understandably premise that most of their sales are for OO modellers.
Consequently, when my AS Manor failed to run smoothly, even after extensive running in, I sent it back to the retailer and did not replace it, as it was only ever of marginal use to me on my small Bethesda Sidings layout, no good at all for an S&D layout and incapable of being converted to P4 either...
Consequently, when my AS Manor failed to run smoothly, even after extensive running in, I sent it back to the retailer and did not replace it, as it was only ever of marginal use to me on my small Bethesda Sidings layout, no good at all for an S&D layout and incapable of being converted to P4 either...